Dear reader, let me start with a meaty question:
Do you know what is being gifted into your consciousness?
If that question made your eyes go a little wider,
Good.
(If the answer to that is an emphatic yes - then you're leagues ahead of most of us)
Before it can be answered though,
We've got to unravel all the "stuff" that's blocking our ability to receive that gift.
What we Think vs What is Real
I've been writing and "doing" this whole "entrepreneurial" thing for quite a while. Roughly speaking, it's been about 16 years since I started my first "business."
(Didn't know a thing about a thing then)
I just say that because between all my own experience with this, and clients and individuals I've helped over the years - being in the marketing space, working with coaches and consultants, working on my own challenges, writing for TGA, helping others figure out how to get the life that they desire ...
Not to MENTION ...
I've got 4 kids, so I spend every single day helping them make sense of the world and of life.
I have begun to suspect (read: sarcasm) …
That one of the greatest challenges people face, in getting what they want in life is a disconnect between What We Think vs What is Real.
"Yea duh. Thoughts are not reality. Are you really writing a whole article to tell us that our thoughts aren't real?"
Hold up there skipper.
It ain’t so simple.
"What we Think" actually has the power to trick us into thinking we are in reality, when the reality is we are actually stuck in our thinking.
Confused yet?
Think about this
(HAH)
You have the ability, through thought alone to make real within your body the same biochemical reaction that happens when you find yourself face to face with a Lion that wants to eat you.
Don't believe me?
How many times have you found yourself an anxious wreck?
A ball of negative feeling energy that reverberates through your nervous system. That makes it feel like the weight of the whole world is on your shoulders. That makes you feel terror and sadness and hopelessness.
That makes you feel fear, like you want to run run away as fast as possible from wherever you are.
And in those times you look around and you're objectively, in the moment, completely safe and fine.
We can make what we think feel like it is real and then we lose the understanding of reality that there's a difference between what we think and what is real.
This isn't inherently a bad thing.
Our Human Mindset gifts us some natural programming that keeps us alive in moments where we really do need natural instinct to kick our ass in gear.
Only, our modern life rarely presents those kinds of moments.
It's almost always imagined into existence, and our Human Mindset takes that and runs with it whether it's real or not.
"OK!! I get it. What we think can take over our reality. What about that thing you said about being gifted into our consciousness ...?"
You always want the answer immediately don't you?
That's very ...
Human mindset of you
Ok.
We have to unravel the real gift of understanding here from Dr. Jeff Spencer, and that requires these pieces.
Because ultimately, I believe, we all want to figure out how to get what we desire most in life, and to achieve our full potential so we can live a life of meaning and purpose.
Or maybe you just want to make more money, or get thinner, or have more freedom, or whatever the higher layer motivation is for you.
So let's make sure we completely understand what I'm saying when I say "what you think."
Because, we're talking about getting the things you want, and most people consider those goals ...
Dr Jeff says, Goals are looked at through the lens of plans executed.1
This is The Human Mindset.
I have a goal of doing a 100 mile ride on my bike. What's my plan to make that happen?
Right now I can do 30 miles before I pretty much die, my muscles just flat out stop working and I have to collapse on the side of the road and panic eat some carbs so I can move again.
So to get up to 100 miles, I'm going to ride 3 times per week, 2 shorter rides and one longer ride, and each longer ride I'm going to extend by 5 miles each week.
That's the plan to execute to achieve my goal.
That's what I think.
I am imagining that will work.
Now, if I start on this and after 2 weeks I cannot increase my long ride by another 5 miles, and maybe even my shorter rides are becoming more difficult, like I just can't make it.
Through that lens I will have failed.
Because through that goal focused lens, if I can do that plan I'll get what I want. If I can't do that plan, I won't.
Something must be wrong with me.
I can't ride 100 miles in one go.
This will never happen.
What I Think is based entirely off what I imagine in my head. What I have thought about this so far, is that if I can follow my plan I'll be able to reach my goal of riding 100 miles.
What is Real is that the plan I had is not setting me up for success. (this is made clear because I can't follow it)
It doesn't mean I can't reach 100 miles in a day. But it certainly seems like I won't do it through the initial plan.
Yet,
Most people experience working towards and achieving goals in this way.
How many times have you set yourself a goal, and then upon not being able to meet that goal, or even failing on the path you predetermined toward that goal, you essentially decide that you are a failure, that you're never going to reach your goal, that you aren't capable of reaching that goal, that's it not for you ...
Etc.
I dare you to claim that you've never experienced that (go ahead, the comments are right below).
Ok.
Let me summarize for simplicity.
This is "What we Think."
We think we want XYZ and the way to get it is to walk through steps A, B, and C.
If we are unable to walk through any of those steps, we determine we can't have XYZ.
If this all sounds silly ... well .. when you break it down, it kind of is.
Because REALITY - actual reality - CHANGES things. Reality changes what we think … Unless we are rigidly binding ourselves to our initial thought and not being receptive to change.
We'll get to The Champions mind in a moment.
I want to go a little deeper first.
Because not meeting specific goals is something we all have experienced, and will continue to experience. It's not new.
Chasing Dreams vs. Answering Callings.
What is a dream?
When I was 12, I dreamed about being a Marine Biologist. My memory of my dreams all coalesces, but I remember being a kid and visiting aquariums.
We would go touch the critters. We do this today with our children.
You can touch the sea cucumber, the manta ray, the shark. You can see the octopus curled up in the corner.
The tingle of fascination I had ... I remember that feeling and thinking "I want to be a Marine Biologist."
And then, I got obsessed with Rats. I had them as pets. I wanted to be a research scientist. Until I discovered what research scientists do to Rats.
I grew up and I dreamed of making a difference. Of changing the world.
I dreamed of living a life where I didn't have to answer to anyone and I could live and work and make such an impact on people's lives as to be worthy of memory.
What is a dream?
If not an imagination driven by desire and interest that, when met with reality, is often changed?
"The Dream" of modern life is exactly like that as well.
A dream that you can have the freedom you desire, to be able to work and be and live all at the same time, unencumbered by the obligations of society and life around you. The Dream that you can make more money that you ever thought possible and have all the things you ever thought possible.
A Dream that is always, always, changed when it meets reality.
When we're younger we dream because that's what we have - our imaginations drive us to play out how life can be if we go one direction or the other. It allows us to try out ideas in our minds and show us what step we might want to try going.
When we are adults, our dreams end up becoming the imagined escape from where we are. We don't like or want to accept the situation we're in, so we dream of a better one.
Dreams are imagined in the future or the past. Never in the present moment.
As adults it all falls on our shoulders, and when accepting reality feels like accepting failure, or accepting that the truth isn't what we want it to be ...
We have to Dream in order to have hope of the possible.
Dreams are not bad.
But dreams are not real.
Yet we talk about Dreams as if they are what we are meant to do.
Dream big and you can have what you want in life!
Follow your Dreams!
Dreams give you a sense of purpose!
Following your Dreams gives you courage!
Life is too short to not follow your Dreams!
If you can be anything in life be a dreamer!
"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams" - Oprah
It's so enticing to live in that reality where you just follow your dreams and work to make your dreams come true, isn't it?
Few people talk about Answering Callings.
Why is that?
Are we so stuffy and rigid in our perspective on life that a "calling" is reserved only for certain special people?
When I think "calling" I see images of religion and faith. Probably because I grew up in that environment, but I suspect that idea is shared by many.
And perhaps we think "calling" means someone else or some other force is "calling" to you to follow a certain path?
But what if that voice is from within?
So often I think we devalue our own perception of reality and we look to others to tell us the way things are, and the way things should be. It removes our personal responsibility for the situation that we are in, and the situation we could end up in, if we can put that choice and responsibility on someone else.
If this is true, it's a sad truth because the nature of a Calling is that it comes from the truest voice within our own selves.
Humans are so often desperate to not have the pressure of reality on their shoulders that they, as mentioned above, go to Dreams, or they seek to receive their messages from an external source of authority.
Nothing, however is more powerful than the Calling that comes from within.
And what is that, other than the direct powerful Calling NOT to become someone you can be, but rather to be who you already are.
From The Pendulum, Steven Pressfield, and Plato:
"We are all born with everything that we are and it is through the growing of life that societal, social, family expectations layer on top, build up and hide our true selves.
Our task is not to make ourself into anyone or anything, it's to do whatever is necessary to remove all that is not you."
And this brings us to the most challenging dynamic.
Because if you are spending your life Chasing Dreams ...
Then you are spending your life constantly trying to live in the imaginary, failing to accept reality, and not able to be in the present moment.
And that lack of presence and ability to be in yourself, to seek the paths that allow you to live who you really are, ends up blinding you and deafening you to the sound of Your Own Calling.
When that shows up, and it may be incredibly subtle, because we are so often used to seeking a voice from without, than when the voice comes from within we have a hard time recognizing it - when that shows up and you are not present and you are occupied chasing dreams ...
You will fail to Hear The Calling.
You will fail to Answer The Calling.
And you only continue to live a life where you chase all that is not real, and where you do not live a life of full potential.
This is possibly the greatest gift you can receive from Dr. Jeff's framework - The Human Mindset vs The Champions Mind.2
Because The Human Mindset is rigid. It is set. It is programmed. It is reactionary. It is goal focused and defined by those predetermined ideas. It cannot tell dream from reality.
And if you are stuck in The Human Mindset, you are stuck within a rigidly defined labyrinth that may or may not be actually real - but you won't be able to tell.
The Champions Mind is to embrace that reality changes everything.
When you take the first step towards your dream and it doesn't match up with your expectations, The Human Mindset revolts while The Champions Mind steps back and says "well that's interesting."
The Champion's Mind responds, it does not react.
And ultimately, to live a life of full potential, of purpose and meaning -
You've got to Respect the Evolution of What is Possible.
What does this mean to me?
To accept the evolution of what is possible is to both accept that reality changes everything we imagine is going to be true, and that reality will reveal to us paths we actually never imagined if we hadn't taken that step in reality.
It does two jobs for us.
This is a check on reality so that we are not operating life delusionally ...
But ALSO
If we are receptive, if we are open to the possible, that check in reality opens the door to that evolution.
You have an idea, a theory.
Maybe you got it from reading a book, maybe from taking a class, watching a video, whatever it is ...
You think that would be an interesting and useful thing for you to do. A new workout. A new way to market your business. A new message.
Nothing matters until you actually do those things.
It's all imaginary.
All dream.
Until you step forward and Engage the Field3 with your idea, your workout, your message, your thing.
And in witnessing the reality in which your idea unfolds, your understanding of it, your impression, your imagination is changed.
Reality changes the imagined.
This goes beyond just the external reaction (or non reaction) you observe when you do the thing. You must be present and aware of yourself because how you feel and what is REAL for you as you do the thing are just as important.
(It makes no sense to do something “successful” if you hate doing it)
Reality opens the door to something new because what actually happens illuminates some truth. Some truth about your idea, your project, yourself.
IF
And only if
You are present and aware and not grinding away on a dream.
You've got to adopt The Champions Mind because if you're living in The Human Mindset then when your idea meets reality your snap reaction will reject the truth and you will not hear the Call.
The ultimate risk of not Respecting The Evolution of What is Possible, is that you miss your calling. That you do not hear the truth of how you can live your life fully as who you really are.
That you miss the path which allows you to live fully your life of purpose and meaning.
How do you do this?
Presence.4
Receptivity.5
Slow Down.6
Do less.7
Raise the floor.8
The principles which we live by in TGA all root back to our understanding that, the greatest impact we can have, the happiest we can be, the way we can have the things we truly desire in life, all come back to our own selves.
It's just self truth.
Self understanding.
Self knowing.
You'll see us say over and over again that the only reality that matters is the one YOU experience for yourself. Yet so often in life we pit ourselves against other people. We follow. We mimic.
We look for others to tell us what to do, because it's much easier if someone tells us to hammer that nail over there, than it is for us to sit in quiet contemplation with our own personal voice, to pick our own hammer and hammer whatever nail our instinct tells us to hammer and then to observe what happens and then to figure out what that means in the depths of our own being.
But it turns out that's actually friggen life.
That's the whole thing.
That's what it's all about people!
Do everything you can to live in the present moment.
You might find yourself getting obsessed with influencers who show off these grandiose freedom filled travel rich lives where they show off all the flashy things you think you desire,
But deep down,
Maybe ... just maybe all you want is to make enough to live comfortably, to raise children in happiness, to grow a little garden, or a large garden, to bring smiles to the faces of others, and just allow whatever gifts you have been given to flourish.
It's in THAT space,
The space where you are living the truest you you can ...
(Is that enough yous?)
That you will KNOW what is being gifted into your consciousness.
In the end, what is our time in life, if not for consciously receiving those gifts and living them as fully as we can?
Live to learn. Give to Earn.
PS. For the readers that are marketers, business owner or entrepreneurs, the Guardian Marketing publication has a bonus for TGA+ annual subscribers (this includes Arena Members and Guardians). Since you’re an annual subscriber of TGA+, the first year of the Marketing publication is free. Details here.
PPS. The seed of the idea for this article was a note the author made at The Guardian Academy Event in March 2024 - “Respect the Evolution of What is Possible” - words spoken by Dr. Jeff at that event. There’s some insight and understanding that only happens in the room. If you want to be at the next one click here for future event dates.
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